Shooter Who Killed 5 People At LGBTQ+ Club Pleads Guilty To Federal Hate Crimes

The shooter who killed five people at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal hate crimes and gun violations.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, 24, entered into a deal with prosecutors to accept 74 federal charges for the November 2022 massacre at Club Q. Prosecutors decided not to pursue the death penalty in an agreement that was announced in January. Aldrich will now serve 55 concurrent life sentences and an additional 190 years of imprisonment.

U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney, the first openly gay federal judge in Colorado, accepted this agreement at the end of the sentencing hearing.

Sweeney also noted that restitution will be required for the victims and will be determined at a later date.

“The admission that these were hate crimes is important to the government, and it’s important to the community of Club Q,” said federal prosecutor Alison Connaughty.

Connaughty added that Club Q, which had been open for 22 years prior to the shooting, was more than just a bar in Colorado Springs, a conservative city.

“It’s a special gathering place for anyone who needed community and anyone who needed that safe place,” she said. “We met people who said, ‘This venue saved my life, and I was able to feel normal again.’”

Last summer, Aldrich pleaded guilty to 50 charges at the state level and received more than 2,000 years in prison, one of the longest sentences in Colorado history. The shooter is currently serving the first of five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Ashtin Gamblin, who was shot nine times at Club Q, spoke at today’s hearing and asserted that Aldrich should be sentenced to death, even if the punishment isn’t carried out. Gamblin remembered her